discuss the current meta and what we learned from the Duelcon 40K GT.
GT and Team Tournament. We used our standard BAO format, the same as at
Comikaze. It is a combination of 3 book missions played simultaneously with all
three book bonus points. Whoever earns more points, wins. It’s a really simple
system that has proven to be easy to learn, flexible, and popular. Results and
pictures of the event can be found here.
Duel Con. We had a large amount of Cron Air armies this go around, definitely
the most represented list at the event. Cron Air has a really big advantage
against most of the armies out there currently having an overwhelming amount of
Flyers that are each an individual unit. Interestingly, few folks took
advantage of the AA options Forgeworld allows. A few Hydra Support platforms,
Sabres, Hyperios defense platforms, etc. and that would have certainly put the kybosh
on a Cron Air list. A Quad Gun and a few flyers would serve nearly as well.
the Cron Air lists against each other! Haha, apparently the pairing gods have a
sense of humor! (And we have no control over pairings, just to be explicit). And
for those of you thinking Chaos will provide some respite from Flyer Nation,
from what we’ve read…not really. We could be wrong of course, but everything we’ve
seen is that the Dragon really isn’t going to spell doom to other flyers (seems
to be much better vs. Infantry) and Flakk missiles, at least as they are
defined in the BRB, only have Skyfire, not Interceptor. So, Flyers will come on
and look to destroy them first before they fire.
Josh Dearth’s Nids dfeated Dave Fay’s Cron Air with his 2 Dakkafexes and 3
Tervigons. Board control and twin-linked rate of fire are excellent tools when facing
an Air Force. Also, Flying Monstrous creatures can be quite good as well. We
also had Brian Marino with his Mech Dark Eldar list fighting for all the
marbles in the finals. He had defeated Shane Irons’ Cron Air army the round
prior. With a beneficial Warlord trait (-1 to reserve rolls) and first turn
Night Fighting, Brian was able to play to objectives and win the game. In the
finals against Allen Campbell’s Cron Air/Horde Ork list, he put up a great
fight but lost a tight game (6-5) to Allen who took it all! I found it very
interesting to see another essentially 5th ed Dark Eldar list
kicking butt. At Comikaze we had several Dark Eldar players doing great, and
here we had another stand-out DE list. It would appear so far, that they have
made the transition to 6th very well.
powerful combos, and one that we’ve seen doing well in other events. Fuegan17,
a member of our team, won the local Feast of Blades qualifier with an Ork/Cron
combo. The Orks provide durable, cheap, reliable scoring units, and great
support units in Lootas, Dakkajets, etc. while the Crons provide the killing
power. I think this is a combo we’ll be seeing a lot of.
We had a Hades Breaching Drill, a Vulture with Punisher Cannons (AWESOME model!),
Storm Eagle, and an Ork Gun Wagon. Nothing was overpowering at all. I’m not
saying there isn’t room for some abuses there, but people bring what they have
painted to tournaments, and this was no different. Once again, FW’s impact on
the event was underwhelming. Had I not asked people what they thought about it
being there, most folks wouldn’t have even noticed.
the 6th ed meta unroll. It is such a more complex and multi-faceted
game now, I love it! I hope we see folks get away from the rinse and repeat
Cron Air lists (and 2 of the 5 Cron players said they were selling theirs as
they didn’t like playing them that much) and take advantage of the incredible
variety 6th allows. The great thing is that now not only can you
build a truly unique army, but it can be effective on the table top as well!
tournament goers and it was awesome to see them get the bug and get excited for
their next event.
What happened to all the tau lol they have become so much better deathrains hit a flyer 2 twice on average, 3 broadsides on average will hit once and you better jink lol and fire warriors can take down all flyiers but a stormraven.
We had 4 Tau players at Comikaze, but none at Duel Con, unfortunately. But I agree that they are really, really good this edition. Much better than before.
Hey Reece,
This is Brian the Dark Eldar player. I actually have found that with a little tweaking from what I ran in 5th edition the DE are still pretty strong. I used to spend 2+ turns demeching people so my venoms could start shooting, but with 6th moving away from mass transports all my guns are usually able to start firing turn 1.
I also find that DE match up fairly well with Necrons, in my game against Shane I actually didn’t have -1 to reserves, I had something useless and he had reroll reserves. By turn 2 I had tabled everything he had on the board and proceeded to just use 30 inch moves to get out flyer flight paths. Lances vs wraiths & AV13 open topped + enough poison shots to wipe squads to deny reanimation protocols allows DE to kill Necron ground forces pretty quickly.
In the final game vs Alan we had KP as the objective worth the most points and that was too much to overcome, although I am fairly confident I would of won with a 7th turn. It was the same story as the game with Shane, by the end of turn 2 all he had left were 7 ork boyz and a big mek + flyers.
Thanks again for running a great event! It was so much better then last year. Looking forward to seeing you all at the BAO.
Ah, sorry for the mistake, I thought you had the -1.
Yeah, DE seem to have made the switch very well, and I totally agree with your analysis on why Poison got better. I know all my lists are running infantry heavy and that is where DE shine! Plsu with their speed they really bring a lot of tools to the table.
Congratz on doing so well! And thanks, we look forward to having you all at the next events!
Any chance of checking out the lists? IN particular curious about the Dark Eldar Lists that performed well.
great article by the way. its unfortunate to see the Necron abuse… it has pushed me away from playing my original army (Necrons) that I started as a kid back in 4th because I look flav of the month even winning tournaments with only 2 fliers on the table.
Which is why I have decided to play more of my Daemons and start a Dark Eldar army (few to none DE players in our local meta)
Necrons are fine really, it’s just the dang Flyers right now that are a PITA. One we get more AA and tactics for dealing with them, we’ll be good to go.
Baron
Haemonculus
4 Blasterborn in Venom
3 Trueborn w/ 2 Dark Lances in Venom
3 Trueborn w/ 2 Splinter Cannons in Raider
3×5 Warriors w/ 1 Blaster in Venom
13 Hellions
3 Ravagers
How did Nids do in general?
I have found a bit of success with them recently. Am I playing cover saves right… Do MC get cover saves just like infantry?? area terrain and intervening units? So a gaunt unit can give a tyrant a cover save just by being in front
They get cover just from being in area terrain like infantry, but as I read it, they must be 25% covered to get cover from intervening infantry.
As for Nids, the only army their got third, haha, so they did really well if a bit underrepresented.
you sure about the 25% bit? what I read is that under intervening models EVEN if completely visible if you shoot through a gap of another unit it gets a cover save. Could you let me know if I am wrong and what page and wording is used? ta 🙂
I saw that too, but I am fairly certain MC’s have to have 25% coverage. Perhaps that is a hangover from 5th, I will check. I play Nids too, so perhaps you have taught me a trick here that will really help!
I checked again and cant see anything saying 25% for intervening units
Hey Reece,
Just wanted to add my 2 cents to this about DE as I had the pleasure of being nearly tabled by Brian at DuelCon with my Orks. I was amazed at how DE really hasn’t changed too much from 5th to 6th. The firepower was too much for my 60 boyz and even my 15 lootas sitting in ruins all game going to ground every turn was eventually wiped out. Granted I think I messed up reserving my warbikers and only bringing them in 12″ which I promptly failed a LD9 morale check after being shot at and drove off the board which was nearly 500 pts! Kudos to Brian you played an awesome tourney and it was a pleasure having met/played. I think I already know some changes that will help me out in the future.
Glad you enjoyed yourself! It was a fun event, if less folks than hoped for. Next year will be awesome, though. Everyone had fun.
Yeah, sounds like the Bikers could have been put to better use, but oh well, live and learn!
See you at the BAO.
Can anyone post the winning Cron list?
Don’t have the list, but IIRC, it was 4 x 5 warriors in Night Scythes, Doom Scythe, Destroyer Lord, 2 x Wraiths, 30 Boyz with a Big Mek.
The -1 to reserves was my last round against the other dark eldar player. To be fair though I only played 3 flyers. I was not sporting 6 plus like other cron lists. Mine was more balanced with Immotek. The game I lost he literally did nothing against the Brian. Usually he is a house in that match up.
Thanks again the event was well run and fun. Brian I’ll get you next time.
Yeah, I can’t believe Imo didn’t own for you! Against DE, he is a beast.
And sorry if I misrepresented your list, all of those Flying Robots started to blend together! haha
Im tempted to use my big bird daemons army as my main now that the chaos dex is coming out finally! Hopefully the Crons will die down, but the no true counter to flyers this edition seem a lot like a game killer…
Forgeworld gives the counter. Funny, Crons also counter Crons! Hahaha. I think it will die down over time, but yeah, they are extremely powerful right now.